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Recycle right in Ku-ring-gai

A study of Ku-ring-gai's waste has shown that the yellow lid mixed recycling bin is the collection that residents are most confused about. The study has shown that some residents still believe that they can place their bottles and cans inside of plastic bags in their recycling bins.

Council recycling services are limited to items that are accepted at the receiving and sorting facilities. Items that cannot be placed in the yellow recycling bin are outlined below.

Plastic bags

Plastic bags are one of the most problematic items at recycling centres. The sorting staff simply don't know what's inside so the whole bag is rejected and sent to landfill.

Please only recycle plastic bags at participating supermarkets.

Other Items made from glass plastic and steel

Another misconception is that any item that is made from glass, plastic or steel can be placed in recycling bins. This unfortunately isn't the case.

The only items that can be recycled in the yellow lid recycling bin are disposable household containers from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry as shown above. This is because the machinery at the recycling centre has been designed to specifically sort these items.

Other items such as coat hangers, garden hoses and video tapes have the potential to bring the whole facility to a halt. Items like these are technically recyclable however to recycle them they need to be already separated from other waste and delivered in bulk to specialised facilities.

Polystyrene/foam

This also includes polystyrene which also cannot be recycled in Council bins despite having the recycling triangle on it.

The recycling triangle is an indicator of the material the object is made from, not whether it can be collected/recycled in Council Services. Please place polystyrene in the waste bin.

Foil lined cartons are acceptable

Request a sticker

Contact us to have a ‘No Plastic Bags In Recycling Bins’ sticker posted to you. Council encourages residents to place one on the left hand side of their recycling bin (if facing bin) to help convey this message to all walking or driving by.

Waste and recycling in Ku-ring-gai

If you have ever wondered what happens to your recycling once it's collected, the below video provides a great overview of our waste services and offers some great recycling tips along the way.